What Could've Been
by Stormie Wiske
Summary: The Outsiders with a twist. Athena Marie Curtis is the twin sister of Sodapop Curtis. Read and find out what could've happened if there was another character added to the story. Who says the future is set in stone? Please Read and Review!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters featured in _The Outsiders_. I only own my original characters.

My life drastically changed the day I found out that my parents were dead. They had gone out for a drive one Sunday afternoon and were killed by a train when the car stalled on the tracks. I was at home finishing some homework before school the next day when my eldest brother answered the phone. I had turned around and saw that his face lost all color before hanging up. The look my brother gave me has been sketched in my brain. It was the face of someone who realized that his whole world shattered in front of him.

"Nina?" I was shaken from my thoughts by my brother entering the room. I figure that I should introduce myself. My name is Athena Marie Curtis or Nina for short. I am a 17 year old senior in high school and I live with my three brothers. My eldest brother and my custodial guardian name is Darry who is 21. He was awarded custody of me and my brothers after my parents were killed last year. He works full time for a construction company and mainly spends his days roofing houses. Darry and I have always been close growing up. He's the one that taught me how to throw a punch and patch up a bloody nose all on the same day.

Next, there's Sodapop, my twin brother. He was technically my older brother by five minutes which he never lets me forget. We share the same dark golden hair and dark brown eyes. However, he stands at a whopping 6'1 where I, being the smaller twin, stood at 5'2. My brothers like to joke that the reason I'm so small is because there wasn't enough room for me and Soda's personality. Being twins, we have a deep understanding of one another. We share the same personality traits such as being able to make people laugh and being high on life. He dropped out of school a few months ago to work full time claiming that he was too dumb but I know that he wanted to help Darry out with the bills. They both insisted on me staying in school even though I offered to drop out and work more shifts at the hospital. I skipped a grade when I was 15 which allowed me to take a class that was only offered as a junior or senior at 16. I was able to take a certified nursing assistant as one of my electives and was able to get a job at the hospital on the weekends. I wanted to go to nursing school when I graduated and in order for me to afford it, I have to keep my grades up and get a scholarship. I spend most of my days at the kitchen table doing homework with my youngest brother Ponyboy.

Ponyboy just turned 14 a little over a month ago. He was a freshman in high school and a track star. He enjoyed running track, reading books, watching movies, and hanging out with his best friends Johnny. He's usually soft spoken and prefers not to have conflicts with people. He can be extremely stubborn; especially when he fights with Darry. Darry is probably the hardest on him because of his age. Soda and I were able to go through puberty when our mother and father were around but Pony doesn't have that luxury. Darry tries his best but communication and understanding are severely lacking between the two of them. They usually don't' see eye to eye which can cause a lot of fights.

Pony and I have a strained relationship because of the role I assumed when our parents died. I was forced into the main female figure role for all of my brothers but it seemed that Pony was the one that had the hardest time adjusting. I try to be understanding and help him but he's at that age where he doesn't want to be mothered always telling me he's not a kid.

Darry sitting in front of me pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked at him through my glasses that I use when I'm doing homework. I have a tendency to get migraines and am forced to use glasses that are less straining on my eyes when I'm trying to read or complete assignments. My shoulder length dark golden hair was pulled up in a messy bun with chunks falling out. I was sitting crisscross on the chair wearing one of Darry's sweatshirt and a pair of Pony's old track shorts. I looked down at my notes for my history class that I was working at before looking up at Darry.

"Hey Dar, how was work?" Today was Sunday which meant that Darry only worked a half day and was home by 4. I wasn't scheduled to work a shift in the hospital because of a French test I had that week. Every month Darry and I would sit down and work up a schedule around school and exams that I turned into my supervisor the last day of that month. Darry made sure that I knew that school came first and was able to work it out with my supervisor.

"It was fine, pretty warm out there." I looked outside the window that was in the kitchen and saw that the sun was shining and there were no clouds in the sky. It was March in Tulsa which meant that temperatures were rising the closer we drew to summer. He was still in his work clothes and I could see the sweat marks on his shirt and the sweat on his face. "Where are your brothers?"

"Soda hasn't come home from work yet and Pony said something about going to a movie earlier. " I answered laying my pen on the table and taking off my glasses.

"Do you know if he went alone?" Darry asked. He was always worried when one of us by ourselves.

"I don't know Darry. I thought he said he was going to find Johnny but I'm not sure. "I apologized and ran a hand over my face before yawning.

"It's fine Nina. He knows that he shouldn't go out alone. How's homework coming?"

"Good I have to finish this chapter and go over some practice exam questions. Can you quiz me later with my flashcards?" I pulled a stack of cards bundled together with a rubber band. We were having an exam over furniture you can find in a house. I had to be able to identify each item and pronounce them correctly in order to pass.

"Sure we can work on it after dinner. Speaking of dinner, what you would like tonight?" he looked around the kitchen trying to decide.

"Don't worry Darry I have dinner taken care of. I pulled the ingredients out for strew when I got up this morning and it should be done in about an hour or two depending on the potatoes. Why don't you take a shower and relax for a while. The boys should start arriving here soon and we can have dinner. "I saw the relief in his eyes that I was taking care of dinner. He definitely didn't inherit our mother's cooking skills and I always enjoyed it and usually made dinner with one of the boys help.

"You are an angel." He praised before standing up and walking over to me. He kissed me on my head and ruffled my hair. "Thank you Nina. I really appreciate it. Can I use your shower?"

"No problem Dar and of course." He walked down the hall to his room and shut the door. I used to share a room with Soda before our parents died while Pony and Darry had their own rooms. After they passed, Soda started sharing with Pony because of the nightmares he would get and they decided that I was to take my parents room because it had its own bathroom. My brothers decided that I shouldn't have to share a bathroom with all of the boys so I can have my privacy. I know that Darry likes to use the shower in my room because it is a lot cleaner than the other and it left the other bathroom open if someone comes over. We moved my twin bed into my room and Darry got my parents king bed while Soda and Pony got the queen that Darry was using. The other twin bed is in the guest room that anyone is allowed to use. I heard Darry open his door before going into my room and starting the shower. I figured it was a good time to take a break and went to check on dinner.

I pulled the stew out of the oven and checked the potatoes with a fork. I noticed that they were still pretty hard and put it back into the oven. I walked out of the kitchen and into the living room and out onto the front porch. I walked to the end of the porch and looked down the street. It was pretty quiet for a Sunday afternoon. There wasn't anyone around but I could hear kids playing at the park that was about a block away. I stayed out on the porch until I heard Darry rummaging around in the kitchen. I walked back inside and saw that Darry had grabbed a glass of water and was sitting at the table. His hair was wet and he had changed into a tee shirt and jeans. He looked up when I entered the room and smiled at me. I could see that he was tired, there were bags and worry lines underneath his eyes. I didn't envy how many responsibilities he has and I know that I try to make sure that he remembers that he is still young too. I make sure that the house is taken care of and that Ponyboy gets his homework done. I knew that Darry appreciated it but we never talked about it. It was an unspoken rule between us.

"Soda! … Darry! … Help!" I heard screaming coming through the screen door and Darry shot out of his chair. It was Ponyboy and he sounded like he was in trouble. I followed Darry out the door and down the street where we can hear the sound of fighting. I didn't even notice that I didn't have shoes while I was running. I was only thinking about my brother. I came to a standstill when the scene unfolded before me. Ponyboy was lying on the ground and Darry had skidded to a stop at his side. I notice that there was a red mustang in the road with Socs running towards it. I also noticed the presence of the rest of our 'gang'. I could see Soda, Steve, Two-Bit and surprisingly Dally going after the Socs and Johnny was standing by Darry shifting on his feet. I hated calling us a gang but it was what we are known around the neighborhood. There were a couple of gangs on the North side including the Shepherds, the Brumly's and then us. Darry was considered the leader because he was the oldest then Two-Bit and Dally at 18, Steve, Soda and I at 17, Johnny at 16 and Ponyboy at 14. I never think of us as a gang because to me we aren't. We are family. I consider every one of those boys family whether we were blood related or not.

I ran over to Darry and Ponyboy in time to hear, "I'm okay. Quit shaking me, Darry, I'm okay." Darry was shaking Ponyboy and immediately stopped once he heard. I noticed that Ponyboy was bleeding. There was a cut just under his chin; the Socs must've pulled a blade.

"They didn't hurt you too bad, did they?" Darry asked. I caught his eye and noticed that he looked worried.

Pony was as white as a sheet and I noticed that his hands were shaking. He had tears collected in his eyes that didn't fall. He swallowed before saying, "I'm okay."

By this time the Socs were run off and the guys were walking back towards us. I knelt at Pony's side and Soda dropped next to me. He pulled out a rag from his back pocket and gave it to me. I placed the rag against his cut and Soda started talking to him.

"Did they pull a blade on you?"

"Yeah." He mumbled and turned away.

I pulled his chin towards me and looked him in the eye. "You're okay Pony. They're gone. No one's going to hurt you no more."

"I know. I'm just a little spooked is all." I wiped the rest of the blood off his neck before giving him a hug.

I pulled away from him and stood up. I looked around to the others that were standing around us. I noticed that Johnny was a little pale and kept looking at Ponyboy before looking around to make sure the Socs were gone. Johnny was jumped a couple of months ago really bad. It left his face scarred and even more mental trauma. He walks around town always jumping at every little noise. I know that it didn't help that his parents were abusive alcoholics which added to his jumpiness. We all made sure to look out for Johnny more and many of my nights were spent patching him up after a bad night with his parents. I walked over to him and placed my arm around him.

Darry and Soda had gotten Ponyboy up from the ground and I heard Darry say "You're both nuts."

"You're all nuts." I muttered but it seemed that they all heard it.

"We're nuts? At least we have shoes on Thena." Soda pointed out laughing. Soda has always taking to calling me Thena where everyone usually calls me Nina. Ponyboy had problems with T's when he was little and would call me Nina and it suck.

"Hey it's not my fault! I was doing homework when we left." I pouted. I looked at my feet and noticed that they were covered it dirt and there was some blood coming from a cut on the bottom of my left foot. I must've stepped on a rock on the way over.

"Athena why didn't you put any shoes on?" Darry shook his head at me.

"I didn't have time!" I protested.

"Yeah well what were you doing walking by your lonesome?" Steve asked Pony. Steve Randall was Soda's best friend since the second grade. I know that Steve and Pony don't really like each other because of the fact that he hated when Pony tagged along. Steve was an only child and never had to worry about a younger sibling but Soda was always good about making sure that Pony felt included. I didn't get along with Steve all that much either because I viewed him as a brother which meant that I voiced my opinion about his poor taste in women. This time around it was about his girlfriend Evie.

"I was just walking home from the movies. I didn't think…" Pony started.

"You don't ever think. Not at home or anywhere when it counts. You must think at school with all those good grades you bring home, and you've always got your nose in a book, but do you ever use your head for common sense? No. And if you did have to go by yourself, you should have carried a blade." Darry exclaimed. I sighed knowing that this was a battle that wasn't going to be solved today.

"Oh yeah that would give the Socs a better reason to cut his neck a little more there." Soda defended.

"When I want my kid brother to tell me what to do with my other kid brother I will ask. Okay kid brother?" Darry glared and started walking back to the house.

The tension between us all was rising until Two-Bit pointed out that Dally was there. "I thought you were in the cooler for 90 days Dal."

"Got out for good behavior." I rolled my eyes knowing that Dally probably didn't know the definition of good behavior. "How's the kid?"

"I'm fine. " Pony mumbled.

"Next time you want to go to a movie Pony asks one of us, any of us will." Two-Bit said.

They were starting to move towards the house and I tried to follow making sure I didn't step on anything else. Soda seemed to notice that I was falling behind and decided to take pity on me. He walked over and turned around motioning me to jump on his back. I climbed on and pressed a kiss to his cheek as thanks.

"Speaking of movies, I was thinking about going to the Nightly Double tomorrow night. Anyone want to come?" Dally asked.

Soda and Steve commented that they were taking Evie and Sandy to the game. Two-Bit said that he was going to get drunk but might stop by. Johnny and Pony agreed to go and they looked at me expectantly. "I don't know. I have a test to study for."

"You always study. You never come out with us anymore Nina. Don't you like us?" Two-Bit cried.

"You? No way!" I laughed. "I'll think about it okay?" That seemed to appease everyone and we got back to the house. "Dinner should be ready. Who's staying?" I asked. Dally said he was going to Buck's, Two-Bit said his mom needed him home and Steve was going out with Evie. That left Pony, Soda, Johnny, and I walking into the house where Soda dropped me on the couch.

Darry walked into the room with a bowl of water and a rag and walked over to me. He set the bowl on the coffee table and sat down next to it. He grabbed my foot and placed it in his lap.

"Darry I can clean this up on my own." I protested, hissing when he wiped the rag on my foot.

"How are you going to clean out this cut if you can't see it?"

"Good point." I conceded. I let him finish cleaning my foot and set it down on the ground. The cut didn't look very deep and was already stopped bleeding. Darry cleaned up the supplies and went to pull dinner out of the oven. I noticed that Johnny was sat next to me and Soda was in the kitchen. Pony must've been in his room because I didn't see him. "Hey Johnny."

"Hey Athena" Johnny tended to be pretty quiet but I found that I could usually get him to talk to me. Pony walked from out of his room and noticed that he changed his shirt. The other had blood on it. He walked over to the couch and sat on the other side.

"Did you finish your homework Pony?" I asked him.

"I just have math left." He replied. "I could use some help on a couple of problems."

"Sure. I'll help you after dinner."

"Athena come and clean up your school stuff!" Darry called.

I got up from my spot on the couch and walked well more like hobbled into the kitchen. That cut sure did sting. I grabbed my stuff from the table and put them in my room. I walked back out to see everyone sitting at the table waiting for me.

Dinner was a quiet affair with small talk about what was going on during the week and what needed to be done. I knew that it was my turn for laundry and said that I would start it after dinner. Pony and Soda had dishes because I cooked dinner and Darry was going to pay bills. Later that evening, Pony and I were sitting at the table with Johnny doing homework before Darry told us to go to bed.

I walked towards my room and noticed that Johnny was headed towards the spare. I gave him a hug goodnight when he passed me and he went into the room. I said goodnight to Pony and Soda when I passed their door and I heard Darry call my name. I turned around to look at him and he was standing in the hall.

"I'm sorry that I didn't get to help you study." He said.

"It's okay Darry. We can always do it tomorrow. My test isn't until Wednesday."

"Sounds like a plan. Good night Nina. Love you."

"Love you too Darry." I walked into my room and closed the door. I didn't bother changing my clothes before climbing under the covers and falling asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters featured in _The Outsiders_. I only own my original characters.

Someone was shaking me awake the next morning and I groaned before rolling over. I blinked the sleep from my eyes and noticed that it was Darry waking me up.

"Hey Nina, it's time to get up, you've got school. Breakfast is on the table." He walked out of my room once he noticed that I was getting up. I climbed out of bed and walked into the bathroom. I washed my face before looking into the mirror. I grabbed the brush off the counter and pulled my hair down from the bun. I brushed my hair until it was smooth and fell in soft waves around my face. I brushed my teeth and went to the bathroom before deciding what to wear for the day. I wasn't like the other girls in town; I preferred to wear jeans to skirts and wore more loose fitting clothes to tight clothes. I wasn't comfortable with wearing tight or revealing clothing which is something that all of my brothers agreed with full heartedly.

I pulled on a pair of jeans that used to be Pony's before he hit his growth spurt. He was now 5'6 almost 5'7 and I expected him to be as tall as Soda and Darry. The jeans fit well in the waist but were a little long but I paired it with a pair of boots and Dally swiped for me one day while he was at the rodeo. I pulled on a white tank top before pulling on a red and black plaid shirt I stole from Soda. I buttoned it once in the middle and walked out of my room. I walked into the kitchen and noticed Darry was reading the paper and drinking coffee.

"Morning Darry" I said with a smile. I pulled a glass down from the cupboard before grabbing the chocolate milk from the fridge.

"If only your brothers were as easy to get up as you. I think they are still in bed. PONY! SODA! Time to get up!" he yelled.

"Well you know I'm here to make your life easier." I laughed. I could hear the boys getting up and moving around.

"That you do." He went back to reading his paper and I grabbed some eggs that were on the stove and sat down. I dug into my eggs and watched as Pony and Soda stumbled into the kitchen. Pony was dressed for school but Soda was only in a pair of jeans.

"Darry have you seen my DX shirt?" He grabbed my glass and drank the rest of my milk.

"Hey! I was drinking that and your shirt is in Darry's closet; I ironed it." I explained.

"You're amazing Thena!" Soda kissed my cheek and ran towards Darry's room.

"Hey Pony, you ready for school?" I asked him as he sat down.

"Yeah I guess. Am I still allowed to go to the movies with Dally and Johnny tonight?" the last part was directed towards Darry.

"As long as you finish your homework before you go." Darry explained.

"Don't worry Darry I'll make sure he gets it done. " I said. Darry gave me a grateful look and Pony seemed to glare at me.

"Darry, it's time to go!" Soda called pulling on his shoes. I got up from the table and went to get my backpack. I noticed that the spare room door was still closed. I quietly opened the door and saw Johnny curled up on the bed still sleeping. I walked over to him and sat down. I pushed his hair back from his face and he startled awake.

"It's okay Johnny, it's just me. I'm just checking on you. Are you going to school today?" I soothed.

"Sorry Athena. I don't think I'm up for it. I'm going to try to get some more sleep, maybe meet up with Dally or something." As I looked at him, I noticed that he looked pale and really tired.

"Okay Johnnycake. I'll see you later today okay?" he just nodded and rolled back over.

I quietly left the room and walked back into the kitchen. The boys were standing there and it looked like I might've missed something. Pony was looking at the ground and Darry looked disgruntled.

"Johnny not going to school?" Pony asked quietly.

"No. I don't think he's feeling very well. He looks really pale." Pony frowned at me. "I'm sure he's fine. Probably just run down and his parents have been fighting a lot recently. He probably isn't sleeping well. He'll meet up with you later."

I started walking towards the door after saying goodbye to my brothers with Pony walking after me. We were walking in silence for a few blocks before I broke it. "Are you okay?"

He seemed startled by my question so I continued talking, "You seemed upset at breakfast."

"I'm fine." He kept walking.

"Pony come on, you can talk to me." I pleaded with him.

"Athena, I'm fine." He started to get irritated "So you can tell that to Darry okay?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked. I pulled on his shoulder to stop him. "What has this have to do with Darry?"

"Come on Athena. I'm not an idiot. I know the only reason you're asking is because Darry asked you to." His eyes were hard when he looked at me.

"I'm asking because I'm worried about you. Darry didn't ask me to talk to you." I looked for some kind of sign that he was listening.

"Yeah right." He tried to brush past me but I stopped him again.

"Pony what are you talking about? You have to know that I care about you. I'm worried about you. You were jumped yesterday." I pleaded with him.

"Damnit Athena! You only care because you feel obligated to you or that Darry asked you." He shouted.

Tears sprung to my eyes, "You can't think honestly think that I don't care about you."

"I don't think that, I know that. You always take his side over everything! You're just as bad as he is! You are always on my back whether it is about school or whatever! You're the angel! You can do nothing wrong in Darry's eyes! It's always 'why can't you be more like Athena?' or 'Athena is never this mouthy!' I can't measure up to you!"

"Pony... honey…" I tried but he cut me off.

"No! I'm not your honey or your baby! Stop treating me like a little kid! I don't need you! You're not mom!" he screamed.

I flinched like he physically slapped me. How could I not know that something was going on? How could I not have seen how unhappy he was? Tears made their way down my face before I could stop them. He looked at me before turning around and walking towards school. I stood there on the sidewalk in shock until someone came up behind me.

"Athena?" it was Two-Bit. He must be going to school today. He grabbed my shoulder and spun me around. He had a smile on his face until he realized that I was crying. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah I'm fine. Pony and I just got into it. No big deal." I tried to brush my tears away and laugh it off. "Look I don't want to talk about it. Can we please just go to school?" I asked. He looked like he wanted to talk but accepted what I wanted. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and we continued to walk towards school.

When we got to the school, I saw Steve standing in front of the school looking like he was waiting for us. He called us over and thankfully I had stopped crying. We walked into school and departed ways. I had history first period and sat down in my seat and waited for class to start. I really didn't have many friends in school. There were a couple of girls that I would talk to in class but mostly I kept to myself. Girls usually only talked to me because they want to sleep with one of the boys and boys won't talk to me because they are too scared of my brothers. I let my mind wonder during class thinking about the fight that I had with Ponyboy. I really needed to talk to someone and the first person that came to mind was Darry. Maybe that was the problem. I tended to run to Darry for everything. I didn't think about what that could be making my brothers feel like. I knew that we would go see Soda for lunch and decided that I was going to talk to him.

The next class that I had was math. Our teacher handed back the quizzes that we took on Friday and I was pleased to see that I didn't get anything wrong.

"One hundred percent? Seriously Curtis, do you ever fail anything?" I turned to look to see who was talking to me. It was one of the boys from Shepherd's gang. I think his name was Tyler.

"I can't afford to." I replied to him sticking the quiz in my book. I know that Darry will want to see it when I got home.

"Why's that greaser? Think that you're smart enough to get into college?" Bob Sheldon and the bane to my existence spoke up. I had plenty of classes with him and his buddies. I knew that he was the one that beat up Johnny months before and I had confronted him about it.

 _Flashback_

 _I was exhausted. I stood on the front steps for a while thinking about the night before. Soda had found Johnny in the lot after he was beaten to a bloody pulp in the lot. I remember the look on Soda's face as he raced into the house with Johnny in his arms. I thought Johnny was dead due to the amount of blood that I was seeing. Soda put him on the couch and I knelt beside him. I could hear the gasps coming from Pony and Darry once they saw Johnny. Darry ran to the bathroom to grab the first aid kit while I tried to talk to Johnny._

" _Johnny? Can you hear me?" I asked. I started tapping his face trying to wake him up. "Come on Johnny, I know you can hear me."_

" _What the hell?" I heard someone yell. It didn't take me long to see that Dally had shown up. "What the fuck happened?"_

" _I found him in the lot on my way home. I think he was jumped." Soda explained._

 _Darry showed up at my side with the kit. I went through it and gathered the supplies I needed. I asked Darry to bring me a bowl filled with water and rags. This was the first time I had to use my CNA skills on one of my friends. I tried to calm my nerves and started cleaning the cuts that I could visibly see. Dally was cussing up a storm and pacing while I worked on Johnny._

 _I heard Johnny moan in pain and shift, "Johnny? Can you hear me?" I asked gently. He opened his big brown eyes and looked at me. "Hey there, do you remember what happened?"_

" _I was in the lot and was looking for the football…. There was this blue mustang … there were five of them..." Johnny started to get upset._

" _Hey it's okay. Johnny we got you now. I'm just going to fix up these cuts and then you can go to sleep." I soothed._

" _I trust you" it was something so simple but meant so much to me. I felt good knowing that he trusted me with his care. By the time I was finished fixing him up it was after two in the morning. Soda had brought him home around nine. I didn't sleep well that night. I spent most of it checking on Johnny who had a concussion. By the time I was ready to go inside I saw him. I was able to get a description of him when Johnny had one of his more lucid moments. It was Bob Sheldon. He liked to jump people on our side of town and rumor has it he wears rings to make sure it scars. The bell had already rung and it was only him and me outside. I blame the exhaustion for my ability to think that I could just walk up to him but I did it anyway._

" _Hey!" I screamed at him. I walked right up to him and punched him._

" _What the hell!" he cried clutching his cheek._

" _The kid you beat up yesterday, that was my brother. If I ever see you messing with him or any of my family again I will make your life a living hell. I have my ways and they will never find your body." I turned away and walked towards school._

" _You're going to regret this greaser!" he called after me._

 _End of Flashback_

I knew that it wasn't a good idea after the fact but I knew that he wouldn't report it to anyone but that doesn't mean that he would forget what I had done. I was so angry after seeing what he had done to Johnny. He was like another brother to me and I don't do well when someone in my family was hurt.

"What? No comment, greaser?" Bob laughed along with some of his buddies. I knew that it was better to ignore him than to start a fight. He had been making good on his promise and hasn't left me alone since the incident. He would hackle me in the halls and was able to get some of the girls to steal my books or trip me in the halls. I never told anyone what had happened between me and him because I knew that it would only cause my brothers to worry and I barely had any classes with the guys. I had science with Two-Bit and sometimes Dally when he decided to show up but that was it.

Bob didn't like the fact that I was ignoring him and made it clear by hitting the back of my chair when the teacher wasn't looking. I was trying to finish my math homework during class so it was one less thing I needed to do when I got home. I could feel a headache coming on more and more every time Bob's feet hit my chair.

Luckily the bell rang shortly after I was able to complete my homework. I gathered my things and made my way over to my locker. I knew that I had some aspirin in my locker that I could use for migraines. Darry was really hesitant about letting me have it in my locker considering it was against school policy and I was known to pop aspirin like candy. I dry swallowed two pills and shut my locker. I knew that if I didn't eat soon the pills wouldn't sit in my stomach very well. I already had an ulcer from the painkillers I took for migraines right before my parents died and I wasn't itching to go through it again. I was lucky that it was about time for lunch to start and I made my way to the front of the school. Two-Bit and Steve were waiting by his car and I noticed that Ponyboy wasn't around. I walked over to them and they both looked up when they heard me coming.

"Hey Nina" Two-Bit said.

"Hey Two-Bit, hey Steve, is Ponyboy not joining us today?" I looked around and couldn't see him coming.

"I ran into him before I walked out the door. He said that he was going to get his homework done during lunch." Steve said climbing into the passenger seat. I knew that it was probably only half the reason why Ponyboy decided to stay for lunch. Our argument was weighing heavy on my mind when I climbed into the backseat and Two-Bit started the car. I leaned against the door and closed my eyes. The pressure was building behind my left eye and I knew that this migraine was going to be a doozy. The boys must've tuned into the fact that I was being quiet so the ride to the DX was made in silence.

"Athena?" I heard someone call softly. I opened my eyes and groaned when the sunlight made my head pound. The car was parked and Steve had turned around in his seat to look at me. I squinted to look at him and I noticed he was handing me a pair of sunglasses. I noticed that they were the ones that he keeps in his front pocket. I smiled at him before slipping the glasses on. They blocked out most of the sunlight to where I didn't have to squint. "You okay?" Steve asked quietly.

"Yeah, I just have a headache." I replied. The boys all knew about my headaches and the fact that I usually got them when I was stressed. School, work, fighting with Ponyboy was really starting to take its toll on me. I gathered myself together and opened my door. I could see Two-Bit staring at me in concern and I smiled a little at him. We walked over to the door and inside.

The DX was dead at the moment. It seemed that we were able to beat the gang of girls that like to hang around here on their lunch break to flirt with Soda. I saw my brother sitting on a stool behind the register reading a car magazine. He looked up when the door ringed and smiled brightly.

"Hey guys!" He called.

"Hey Soda!" Steve called back. He walked over to the counter and jumped up onto it. "How's working?"

"Pretty slow at the moment, oh Mr. Lundgren brought his truck in again. He said that it was making a weird noise when he would start it up."

"Again? I swear that guy always has something wrong with his truck. He might be better off just trying to replace it than paying to keep fixing it."

I walked around the store and picked up a water bottle and sandwich before walking over to the counter where the boys were talking. I smile a little at Soda and pulled some cash out of my pocket and placed it next to my purchase.

Soda turned to look at me and frowned. "Another headache Thena?"

"Yeah." I mumbled. He grabbed the cash from the counter and put it into the register before walking around the counter towards me. He pulled off my sunglasses and looked me in the eyes. I could see the concern swimming in his eyes.

"How bad?" I knew that he pulled my glasses off to get a straight answer. He always knew that I lied about how much my headaches hurt because I didn't want to be a burden. They were always worried that I would get another cluster headache and have to go to the emergency room again.

"Not too bad. I'm just tired." I replied honestly.

He looked at me for another minute before speaking, "I'm sorry honey. Maybe you should head home instead of going back to school."

"Soda you know that I can't. I can't miss class and besides it's my day to walk home with Ponyboy." He must've seen something flash in my eyes when I mentioned our younger brother.

"What is it?" he asked.

I sighed, "Nothing ever gets past you Soda. Can I talk to you about something?" I asked before adding "in private?"

"Sure, Steve can you watch the store while I go talk to Thena?" Soda asked.

"We've got it covered Thing One and Thing Two." Two-Bit laughed while throwing his arm over Steve's shoulder. Two-Bit always enjoyed that particular nick name after he found out who they were. Pretty sure that was the only twin nickname he could think of.

"Thanks Mickey" I called back to him. Soda and I walked towards the back of the shop where there was some chairs and an old car seat. I had grabbed my water before walking out and opened it. The cold water felt good going down my throat.

"So what's on your mind hun?" Soda asked sitting down.

I took a deep breath and asked, "Do you think that I love Darry more than you and Pony?" I knew that my question threw him off guard.

"What?" he sputtered.

"Do you think that I love Darry more than you and Pony?" I repeated.

"Where did you get a crazy notion like that?"

"Pony and I got into it while we were walking to school. I asked him what was bothering him and he said that the only reason why I was asking was because Darry asked me too. That the only reason I cared was because I was told to." I sat down next to him and looked at him hard, "He was so angry with me Soda. He told me that he was sick of me being perfect and that I was not his mother."

Soda pulled me close when he noticed how upset that I was. "Honey, I know that you love us. Ponyboy knows that too, he's just going through a lot at the moment. Do you remember when we were 14? We were more of a nightmare than he is."

"Have I failed him Soda? I feel like I lost him." I cried.

"No, no, no you haven't lost him. He was upset with Darry harping on him to make sure that he did his homework and came straight home after school." He soothed.

"Gosh, I know that I tend to stick up for Darry and make sure that I don't cause trouble but I didn't realize that Pony would think that I love Darry more than him. I feel bad that Darry is often seen as the bad guy because he has to make sure that we don't get split up." I was rambling at this point.

"I know baby, I know. Darry needs to know that someone is in his corner and I know that you are trying real hard to make sure everyone is taking care of but you need to think about yourself as well. You're stretching yourself too thin! Look its giving you a headache. Listen, I will talk to Ponyboy when I get home tonight okay? We will get this all straightened out tonight. Okay?" I nodded into his chest and tried to stop the tears.

Soda pulled me to my feet, "You know I love ya, right doll?

I nodded, "Love you too Sodapop."

We walked back into the store where I finished the rest of my lunch. The boys were talking about the football game that Steve and Soda were going to that night before we had to leave to make it back to school on time. I straightened my sunglasses and prepared to suffer through the last few hours of school. All of my teachers had been notified about my migraines so they were not surprised when I would come to class with sunglasses on. My English teacher smiled at me in sympathy when she was passing out our assignment for the day. The other students were giving me weird glasses and some of the Socs believed that I got high over the lunch break but I tuned it all out. Finally the school day was over and I was hoping that I would be able take a nap when I got home.

I met Ponyboy at the front steps but he didn't say anything when I walked up to him. We started our trek home in complete silence. I could see that Pony wanted to say something to me but was either still too mad or nervous to say anything. I tried not to let it get to me but it was hard. He was my baby brother and all I wanted to do was protect him. I wanted what was best for him just like Soda and Darry do. We walked up the front steps and through the front door. I noticed Johnny was sitting in the living room and was looking like he was waiting for us to get home.

"Hey Johnny" I said to him. He just nodded to me and I walked towards my room. I wanted to change into comfy warm clothes before starting my homework. The aspirin I had taken at school wasn't touching my headache and I knew that it could take some more about now. I changed into a sweatshirt and sweatpants and grabbed my blanket off my bed. I tended to lose all of my body heat with my headaches and my whole body shook from cold.

I walked back into the living room and decided that I was going to study on the couch instead of at the table. I only had one assignment for science and then I was going to study some more for my French test. I could hear the boys talking in the kitchen when I settled on the couch.

"Athena?" I heard my little brother ask.

"Yeah?" I had opened my science book and pulled out my assignment.

"Can Johnny and I go to the lot?" his voice trembled with nerves.

"Did you finish your homework?"

"Yeah I finished it at lunch."

"Then you can go. What time are you meeting Dally for the movie?"

"I think Dal said 7" Johnny answered.

"Okay, have fun and watch out for each other okay?"

"Are you going to come with us?" Johnny asked.

"Probably not," I answered truthfully. "I want to get some stuff done and take a nap. My head's killing me."

I noticed that Pony wanted to say something else to me but eventually pulled Johnny out the door. I went back to my book and curled up with my blanket. I was reading about transcription regulatory proteins when I closed my eyes and drifted off.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters featured in _The Outsiders_. I only own my original characters.

I must've been sleeping a while because the next thing that I know is someone brushing back my hair and people speaking in low voices.

"I thought you said that it wasn't that bad?" I thought it was Darry by the sound of his voice.

"She said that it wasn't too painful. She told me that she was okay to go back to school when I saw her last." Soda replied. It was then when I started to move around and sit up a little.

"Athena?" I heard Darry ask.

I pulled off my sunglasses and sat up a little. I looked to see that it was almost dark outside and my school stuff had fallen on the floor. I stretched and rubbed at my eyes before making eye contact with my eldest brother. "Hey Dar," I smiled a little. My headache hadn't really subsided and my vision was pretty distorted.

"Hey honey, how are you feeling?"

"I'm okay" I said as I let out a yawn. "What time is it?"

"Almost seven, have you been asleep since you got home?" Soda replied.

"Yeah I was studying biology when I fell asleep. I'm sorry, I know that I was supposed to make dinner." I tried sitting up and my ears rung and my vision swam. I pulled my blanket tighter around my body.

"Hey don't worry about dinner; you're in no condition to cook. Besides, I think its only going to be you and me tonight anyway. How about I make you some soup? Have you eaten anything?" Darry asked.

"I had a sandwich for lunch" I responded.

"Alright well I'm going to start on dinner, okay?"

"Sounds good Darry. Soda, don't you have a date with Sandy?" I asked looking at him. He was sitting on the coffee table looking at me. I liked Sandy for the most part but there was something about her that seemed off. She was nothing but nice to me and my brothers and Soda seemed to be head over heels for her.

"Yeah Steve just dropped me off so I can get changed while he picked up the girls for the game. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Sodapop, I'm fine. Go get ready for the game Darry and I can handle things here." I pushed him towards the hallway. He smiled and ruffled my hair before getting up and heading towards his room. I could hear Darry fumbling around in the kitchen and I laid my head back down on the couch. I listened to the sounds of the house before Darry came back in with a bowl of soup. I sat up and grabbed the bowl and mumbling thanks. I placed the bowl in my lap and saw that Darry sat beside me with his own bowl.

Soda came sprinting back in the room with only one shoe on and the other in his hand. He was wearing a pair of jeans with an open plaid shirt with a white tee shirt underneath. I heard Steve honking the horn outside and Soda rushed towards the door. "Bye Darry, Bye Thena!" he called before sprinting out the door and slamming it shut behind him.

I flinched and then the house was quiet again. Darry and I were eating in a comfortable silence before Darry broke it, "How's the head?"

"It's fine. I think the nap helped."

"Still cold?" he noticed that I was still wrapped up in the blanket and shivering some.

"A little." He had finished his bowl and set it on the coffee table before pulling me closer. I had eaten the right amount that found a balance between eating enough to help me feel better but not enough that it made me more nauseous. I placed my bowl on the table and snuggled in closer to Darry. He started stroking my hair which is what our mom used to do before she passed. Having someone stroking my hair helped me relax and stay calm. It also helped me fall asleep more often than not most days.

"Do you wanna watch something?" he asked.

"I really should study first. I need to go over my French stuff." I attempted to sit up but Darry stopped me.

"Hold on there munchkin. I'll grab your stuff." He shifted me over and stood up. I heard him walk into the kitchen and open the fridge. I heard him close it and then heard the sound of my backpack opening which I had left by the TV when I got home from school. Darry sat down on the other side of the couch and put a pillow in his lap. He motioned for me to lay down. I laid my head in his lap and he brought an ice pack from the kitchen and placed it under my neck. I loved lying on an ice pack when I had a migraine. One of the nurses did it for me one time in the emergency and I loved it ever since. It didn't help my cold situation and Darry tucked the blanket around me tighter before unwrapping my flashcards.

I don't know how long we laid there with Darry and having him quiz me on my French vocabulary but soon enough I had been able to get through all of the cards without a mistake and he took that as a sign to stop. I looked at the clock and noticed that it was almost 9 which meant that Soda and Pony should be home soon.

"You wanna watch TV or something?" Darry asked.

"Is Star Trek on?" Star Trek was quickly becoming my new addiction. I didn't usually watch television but there was something about Star Trek that made it mesmerizing. Most of the guys don't want to watch but I knew that Darry didn't mind. Darry grabbed the remote and flipped the TV on. Sure enough Star Trek was on and I nestled down to watch. Darry started stroking my hair and soon I fell asleep listening to the sounds of The Enterprise in the background.

I heard Soda come home and opened my eyes. Darry had his attention turned towards Soda who had walked through the door just moments before.

"Hey little buddy, how was the game?" he asked quietly.

"The game was good. We won and it seemed like the girls had fun. How have things been here?"

"Good, she finally fell asleep a little bit ago." Obviously, they hadn't notice that I was awake.

"I don't understand how she can watch this show. It's awful." Soda complained looking at the TV.

I had heard enough before I threw up a Vulcan salute and said, "Live long and suck it Sodapop Curtis."

Darry laughed, "She got you there Soda."

"Whatever you say Mr. Spock" Soda mocked before sticking his tongue out at me.

"You may be my twin brother Soda but that doesn't make you immune to a smack in the mouth." I glared at him and raised my hand threateningly.

"Glory how old are you both again?"

"Five" we said at the same time before laughing.

"Alright kiddo I have to get up before my bladder bursts, take over Soda?" I sat up enough for Darry to slip out from underneath my head and for Soda to take his place. Soda immediately started rubbing my head while I let out a huge yawn.

"It's pretty late, why don't you go to bed?" Soda asked.

"I want to wait until Pony gets home. I need to talk to him." I explained.

"Well he should be home soon enough. He came by this afternoon," he trailed off.

"Did he say anything to you?"

"Not much but he did say that he felt bad about fighting with you. He didn't mean what he said, he knows that you care."

"Well hopefully we will be able to clear things up when he gets home."

"Clear what up?" Darry asked walking back into the living room. He sat down in his regular arm chair and stared at the pair of us. We were both silent, "Care to share with the class?"

"Pony and I got into an argument earlier on the way to school." I explained. I knew that I would have to explain in such a way to not get Ponyboy into more trouble. I knew that if I told Darry what Pony said this morning, he would get upset. I didn't want to give Darry another reason to be mad at him.

"What about?"

"Just about yesterday, I asked him why he didn't call and he told me that he was fourteen and not four. It was just a misunderstanding." Soda nodded along with my explanation.

"I wonder where he is," Soda thought out loud. I looked over at the clock and noticed that it was just past midnight.

Darry also looked over at the clock, "Wherever he is, he's late."

"I'm sure he'll be home soon, probably just lost track of time." I soothed.

It was pretty quiet between the three of us after that. Darry had picked up a newspaper from today while Soda and I watched Star Trek. We talked a little about the game and how much Soda enjoyed time with Sandy. The way that he talks about her, you would think that he is the one. There was a certain gleam that Soda would get in his eyes while he was talking about her. He was just explaining how they were going to go out again Friday night when Pony walked through the door.

"Where the hell have you been?" Darry roared, "Do you know what time it is? Well it's two o'clock in the morning kiddo."

"Hey Pony where have you been?" Soda asked. I had sat up at this point and was about to get off the couch when Pony walked by heading towards the bathroom.

"Johnny and I fell asleep in the lot." He explained.

"You fell asleep in the lot? Have you any idea how worried we were about you? I can't even call the cops because you would all be thrown in a home so fast it would make your head spin." Soda and I had walked over to the bickering pair. I could see how tense Darry was getting and it didn't look like Ponyboy was going to be backing down any time soon. This was a long time coming.

"I said I was sorry. We lost track of time and fell asleep in the lot."

"Come on Pony, let's go to bed." Soda suggested.

"You don't ever use you head, did you ever think that something could've happened? For god's sake Ponyboy you were jumped yesterday! Did you forget that?" Darry yelled.

"I said I was sorry," Pony yelled back. I tried to put myself between Darry and Ponyboy to hopefully calm down the situation before anyone did something that they regret.

"I'm sorry, I forgot, that's all I ever hear from you!"

"Come on Darry…" Soda started before Darry spun around at him.

"I'm sick and tired of you always sticking up for him!"

"Don't you yell at him!" Pony screamed. I put my hand on Pony's chest trying to get him to take a step back when I felt Darry's hand connect with my face. He must've not seen that I had moved between them. Darry had spun around and was meaning to backhand Ponyboy but caught the side of my face instead. The force of the blow left me staggering into Ponyboy and sending both of us to the floor.

No one said anything and you could cut the tension with a knife. I rolled off Ponyboy with a "Damnit Darry!" My head was spinning and my cheek hurt something awful. I knew that it was going to leave a mark on my face I looked up at Darry and saw him pale as a ghost staring at me with tears in his eyes. I turned to look at Pony who was still lying on the ground. "Pony?" I asked quietly.

He made eye contact with me and I was surprised to see he had tears in his eyes. He was pale and clammy, his eyes diverting between Darry and I. He was whispering something under his breath and I could barely make out, "I'm sorry, please don't hate me." I couldn't understand who or what he was talking about. Before I could ask him what he meant, he stood up and headed for the door. I could hear Soda screaming his name and following him to the door.

I pushed myself off the floor and almost fell back down if it wasn't for Soda grabbing my arm and steadying me. "Athena, are you okay?" I nodded and apparently that was what Darry needed to hear before snapping out of whatever trance he was in.

"Athena? Oh god, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to." He pleaded with me. He grabbed my hands and looked me in the eye.

"I know Darry but I know that I wasn't your intended target. You should apologize to Pony as well. What were you thinking?" I asked

"I wasn't thinking, god I don't know what's wrong with me. I was just so angry." He kept rambling.

"Okay, everyone let's just take a second and talk about this." Soda pulled me and Darry to the couch. We all took a seat and I had a momentary flashback of when we were sitting on the couch discussing the passing of mom and dad. "Okay, first things first, are you okay?"

The question was directed towards me. I didn't respond right away because I didn't know what to say. I knew that I was fine physically but the events that had occurred had shaken me more than I would like to admit. Soda put his hand underneath my chin and tilted my face from side to side. "I'm okay Soda" I said.

"Well that's definitely going to bruise."

"Shouldn't we go after Pony?" I asked wanting to divert attention off of me.

"I think its best if we let him come home after he's had time to calm down. Coming back now would only make things worse." He turned towards Darry. "Are you okay Dar?"

Darry was staring at his hands in shock. He looked like a wreck but I'm sure that neither Soda nor I looked any better. Darry looked up from his hands long enough to nod towards Soda and look back at his hands. I knew that there wasn't anything that could be solved tonight and made to stand up, "I think we should go lie down and try to get some sleep."

"No, no, no we should stay up and wait for Pony to come back." Darry said.

"Darry, look at me," I grabbed his face, "There's nothing we can do right now. He probably went back to the lot with Johnny. He will come home when he's cooled down. If he's not back by morning, I will go look for him but I'm sure that he will go to one of the guy's houses for the night. You both have work in the morning and you need to sleep." I pulled both of my brother's to their feet and led them down the hall. I knew that we shouldn't be alone at the moment and directed us towards Darry's room. "I don't know about you guys but I don't think I could sleep alone."

Soda nodded his head and diverted to the kitchen. Darry hadn't said anything still and I knew that he was probably in shock. Soda came out of the kitchen with another ice pack which I could only assume was for my face. We all climbed onto Darry's bed with me in the middle. I placed the ice pack over the left side of my face feeling my brother's arms across my waist. "Everything will look better in the morning, I promise. I love you guys." I said, closing my eyes.

I felt them both squeeze my waist in reply and I slowly fell asleep to the sound of their breathing.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters featured in _The Outsiders_. I only own my original characters.

Sleep seemed to evade me. I would fall asleep only to startle awake the next moment. I gave up trying to get some sleep and focused on the two warm bodies that were lying next to me. My brothers seemed dead to the world but from the looks on both of their faces, I could tell that they weren't sleep well either. I looked at the alarm clock that was sitting on Darry's nightstand and noticed that it was just after five in the morning. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to get any more sleep and decided to get up. I carefully slipped out from between my two brothers.

Last night was weighing heavily on my mind and decided to check Soda and Pony's room to check if he came home. I walked towards the closed doors and slowly opened it. I poked my head through the opening and took in the room. There were clothes lying on the floor mixed with different shoes. The bed was unmade and there was nobody sleeping on it. I sighed hoping that Pony had enough common sense to go to someone's house instead of spending the night in the lot with Johnny. I closed the door and made my way to the bathroom. I flipped on the light and was not expecting the site that met me in the mirror. My left side of my face was mottled with bruises. My eye was slightly swollen and the bruise covered my left eye and cheek. I poked it slightly and winced on the onslaught of pain. I was screwed, there was no way I was going to be able to hide this. I guess it was a good thing that I wasn't going to school today in lieu of looking for Pony. I turned the light of and walked into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. I normally don't drink it because caffeine isn't good for migraines but I didn't think that I was going to be able to stay awake without it. I leaned against the counter and looked out the window while the coffee was brewing. The sun was beginning to rise over the houses and I closed my eyes, taking it in.

I poured myself a cup of coffee and went back to the window thinking of a ground plan of where to start looking for Pony. I must have been deep in my thoughts because Darry's voice startled me.

"Couldn't sleep?"

I whipped around and clutched my chest, "Geez Darry you scared me. You could've given me a heart attack and to answer your question, no I couldn't."

"I'm sorry, didn't mean to scare you." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's fine, coffee?" I offered my cup towards him. I avoided making eye contact with him due to the bruise on my face. I could tell Darry was really upset about last night due to his bloodshot eyes.

"Thanks, should you be drinking coffee?" He took my cup and sat at the table. I walked over to the coffee pot and poured myself another class.

I turned around and answered, "No, but my headache is gone and I'm exhausted." I was lying but I didn't want them to know that I still had my headache. We all had bigger things to worry about; like what happened last night.

"Athena, why won't you look at me? Are you still mad at me?" My heart broke at the sorrow his words held. I took a breath and turned towards him. He was up and out of his chair before I could blink, "Oh god, Athena. I'm so sorry. Does it hurt a lot?" he was rambling. His hand cupped my face and turned it towards the light shining through the window.

"Darry I know you're sorry. I know that you didn't mean it but this is something we should really talk about when Pony gets home. I'm not mad at you. I know that it was an accident." I tried soothing his worry and winced when he touched the bruise. "Darry, really, I'm fine. I promise."

We walked back towards the table and sat down. Both of us were stuck in our thoughts and kept to sipping our coffee. I could hear Soda tossing and turning and looked towards the clock. I had spent over an hour staring out the window and didn't notice the clock moving towards seven. Soda needed to get up to get to work and Darry had to as well. "I should go wake up Soda. You both have work today." I stood from my chair.

"Yeah," he rubbed the back of his neck, "You need to get ready for school."

"About that, I don't think I'm going to go."

"Why not? You know that you can't miss school." Darry said.

"I'm going to go look for Pony. Come on Darry, I haven't missed in a while and you can call the school and say I have a migraine." With all of the doctor's appointments that I have had over the years has granted me almost a disability status at school. I didn't need to get a doctor's note anymore every time that I miss. Plus the teachers give me a copy of their notes when I miss.

"You told me your headache was gone. Why do you need to look for Pony, he should be at school as well."

"Darry, "I said slowly, "Pony never came home last night so I highly doubt that he will be at school today."

"I know that he didn't come home. I checked his room. Do you think that he wouldn't show?" he asked.

"I don't know but I have a feeling that he won't be. Can I please just go look for him?" I was pleading with him at this point.

"Where are you going to look? You can't just go walking around town. You could get jumped. I don't trust that they will stay on their side of town even when they are supposed to be in school."

"Can I have the truck? I'll drop you off at work and I can pick you up when you're done." I could see him thinking and I knew that he was going to say no. "I won't go alone. I'm sure that Two-Bit will go with me."

"I'll think about it okay. Can you get Soda up?" I knew better than to argue with him. I walked towards his room and I heard him walking around the kitchen. I knew that he was beating himself up a lot about everything. I felt bad for him even under the circumstances. Going from an older brother to parent overnight wasn't easy and the relationship between Darry and Ponyboy was strained even before our parents died. I walked over to my twin who was lying spread eagle, face down on Darry's bed. I crawled on the bed and sat next to him.

I poked him, "Soda… Soda" I called his name and poked him again. He grumbled but I saw his eye open. "Come on Soda, you have work."

He rolled over and opened his eyes. "What time is it?" he slurred.

"Almost seven" I answered. He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. His hair was messed up and sticking up at random points. "Morning sleepy head" I tried to smile but winced when my bruise pulled.

"That looks nasty Thena. You feeling okay?" he asked.

"Yeah I'm just a little sore is all. Soda, Pony didn't come home last night."

He sighed, "A small part of me was hoping that he would but I can see why he wouldn't."

"I wanna go look for him today. I asked Darry if I could skip school to go look. I'm really worried Soda, I have a bad feeling about this." I looked at my twin and knew that he felt the same way that I did.

"I know I have one too. Listen, I'll talk to Darry about letting you go look for him. I just hope that he's okay."

"What are we going to do Soda? I mean no one has ever hit us before." I looked down at my hands.

"I don't know Thena. We can worry about that later. Right now we need to find Pony and make sure he's okay, savvy?"

"Okay." I didn't know what else to say to him. I just keep flashing back to the look that Pony gave me before he ran outside. He looked so scared and upset but it was what he said that bothered me the most. He asked me not to hate him. I had assumed that he meant it towards Darry but he was looking at me when he said it. He didn't want me to hate him. My eyes burned with unshed tears at thinking that Pony believed there was a way that would make me hate him. He's my baby brother and there's nothing that he could do or say to change that. I loved him just like I loved everyone else in my family.

"Athena?" I didn't notice that Soda had said something until he grabbed my hand. There were tears still in my eyes when I looked at him. He had a concerned look on his face, "You okay?" he asked.

"He thinks that I hate him." I didn't need to explain who I was talking about.

"What are you talking about?"

"Pony asked me not to hate him last night after Darry hit me. I thought he was talking to Darry but he was looking right at me Soda. My baby brother thinks that I hate him." I tried holding back my tears.

"Come on Athena, you know I hate it when you cry. Please don't cry honey. Pony knows that you love him. I think he was just scared last night. I think we all were." He brushed the hair back from my face.

"I just have a feeling that everything is about to change. We need each other, now more than ever. I just don't want this to divide our family."

"I won't let it." Both of our heads whipped towards the door where our older brother was standing. "When Pony gets back we are all going to sit down and talk. I won't let my mistake tear our family apart." Darry said.

"It might've been a mistake but I know that you didn't mean it. I know that it was an accident and that Athena thinks so as well." Soda said and I nodded along.

"I want to apologize to both of you. I never should have raised my hand towards Pony. I want you both to know that I will never let something like this happen again." By this time Darry was standing near the bed looking at both of us. "I love you guys and I will do everything in my power to try and fix this. I promise."

I reached out and grabbed his hand, "We love you too Darry." I pulled him towards a hug and I could feel Soda join in. I brushed the tears out of my eyes and pulled back from the hug. "I'm going to go take a shower. You both need to get ready for work."

Everyone left the room to do their own things while I walked into my room to take a shower. I turned on the warm water and stood under the spray. I was thinking about where I would start looking for Pony and my mind eventually drifted to what we were going to say to the gang. I knew that Darry hitting me wouldn't sit well with anyone and I know that it was going to take some time before everything would go back to normal. I finished washing my hair before turning off the water. I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around myself. I walked into my room and started to get dressed for the day. I grabbed the jeans that I wore the day before and pulled a tee shirt on. I towel dried my hair before pulling it up into a ponytail. I looked in the mirror and silently cursed the fact that I didn't wear makeup therefore not having anything to cover my bruise. I grabbed a hat that belonged to Soda and put it on. It wasn't the best at covering the bruise on my face but it helped make it stand out less. I started to walk out of my bedroom and heard my brothers talking to someone. I walked down and hall and stopped dead in my tracks. My brothers weren't talking to just anyone. They were talking to two police officers that were standing in our living room.

"What's going on? " I asked. My blood turned to ice when I caught the expressions on their faces. Both of their faces were pale and it looked like Soda was shaking a bit. My heart started racing and I immediately thought about when our parents died.

Before I could follow that train of thought Darry spoke, "Athena could you come sit down with us?" They were both sitting on the couch with the officers standing in front of the television. I numbly sat between my brothers and stared at the police men.

"You are Athena correct?" the police officer that spoke was big. He was probably the same height as Darry with dark brown hair and green eyes. He looked friendly enough and continued speaking when I nodded, "My name is Officer Daniels. We would like to ask you a couple of questions about your brother Ponyboy."

The other officer looked up from the notepad that he was writing in and looked straight at me. His eyes were an ice blue and held an arrogant sort of smile on his lips. "Mind telling us what happened last night?"

"What about last night? Darry what's going on?" I looked towards my older brother and he shot me a grim look.

"Johnny and Pony got into some trouble last night." He said softly.

"Some trouble? You're brother and his friend are prime suspects in a murder investigation." The cop with the blue eyes whose last name looked to be Barnes snarled.

"Murder investigation?" I repeated. My brain seemed to short circuit and the word murder kept repeating in my head.

"Looks like your brother and his friend were in the park last night and were accosted by a few boys late last night. A fight broke out and it is said that Johnny Cade stabbed one of the boys." Officer Daniels replied.

"Johnny killed someone? There has to be some kind of mistake. You don't know Johnny, he wouldn't hurt a fly. Neither of them would." I explained.

"Be that as it may, we need to talk to them and word has it that they took off. When was the last time you saw your brother?" Officer Daniels asked.

"About two this morning." I answered honestly.

"Was that when the fight between your eldest brother and your younger brother began?"

"Pony had missed his curfew. He said that he had fallen asleep and lost track of time. We were all worried about him and were relieved when he came home. Darry was upset that Pony didn't call when he realized that he was going to be late." I wasn't technically lying at this point.

"Did the fight ever turn physical?" asked Officer Barnes.

"No," I answered firmly. "Darry would never hit us."

"Well then do you mind telling us where you got that bruise on your face? Definitely looks like someone hit you." Officer Barnes smiled slightly. I knew what he wanted me to say. I could tell that Officer Barnes was looking for an excuse to go after my family and I wasn't going to give him a reason to.

"I work as a nursing assistant at Tulsa General. I was working in the ER when a patient came in who was suffering from a psychotic break. He grabbed a bed pan before we could restrain him." I answered back. I could feel both of the stares of my brothers but I didn't break eye contact with Barnes.

"Sure looks like it hurts." He said.

"Not so much anymore but thank you for your concern." I smiled politely at him. "Darry and Pony were yelling and then Pony left to cool down. I haven't seen him since. How do you know that it was my brother?"

"We were called shortly after the incident and the boys came forwards indicating that it was your brother and his friend that started the attack and killed Robert Sheldon." Officer Daniels explained.

My blood ran hot; of course it was Bob Sheldon. I could barely contain my rage at the thought of him going after my brother; going after Johnny again. I knew that there was something that wasn't being said. There is no way that Johnny would kill anyone unless he deemed it was absolutely necessary. Johnny had started carrying a switch right after he was jumped by Sheldon the first time. I never thought he would use it but then again something must've provoked him. "I told you that there's no way that Johnny would kill someone. There must be something that those boys didn't tell you. They were probably drunk and started the fight. Wouldn't be the first time a soc decided to jump a greaser." I snarled back at him.

"That doesn't give him the excuse to kill someone. So please tell us where they are so we can figure this situation out. Running will only hurt both of them in the long run." Officer Daniels looked uncomfortable.

"Well maybe you should do your job and investigate what actually happened last night. My brother is not a murderer. Johnny is not a murderer. You should look into Bob Sheldon and what he was doing in the park last night because I will tell you now that it wasn't a coincidence." I was starting to get angry. I couldn't believe that they were blaming my brother. They were blaming my brothers of killing another person in cold blood. Soda grabbed my hand and it was only then that I noticed my hands were shaking.

"Officer we told you everything that we know but I am going to ask that you leave. You are upsetting my sister and you need to be out there looking for our brother." Darry stood and showed the officers out.

Soda pulled me into a hug and my shaking slowed down a little, "God Soda, what happened? Johnny killed someone. This is my fault. I should've gone after him."

"Hey none of us could've predicted this to happen. This isn't your fault and you were right there is no way that Johnny would've killed someone unless he had to." Soda soothed.

"Where do you think they are?" I asked.

"If they are smart, somewhere no one will find them. The cops already believe that they are guilty. It's safer for them to hide."

By this time the officers left and Darry came back inside. He sat down on the couch next to us and sighed, "This is my entire fault. If I would've never hit him, none of this would've happened."

"Darry, what's going to happen?" I asked. I was suddenly scared of what this could mean. Was I ever going to see my brother again? What will the state think? Will we get taken away?

"I don't know Nina. I wish that I had an answer for you but for now we will stick together. We need to figure out where Johnny and Ponyboy ran off to." He rubbed my shoulder. We all sat there in silence thinking about what has happened for the last couple of hours. It hadn't even been twelve hours since Pony ran out. I could only imagine where they could be or how afraid they were. We were all lost in thought and jumped when the screen door slammed shut.

"Good morning Curtis's!" Steve yelled.

Oh no, what were we going to tell the gang?


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters featured in _The Outsiders_. I only own my original characters.

I could not help but stare at Steve. I was too wrapped up in my thoughts to realize two things: one was that Steve was alone and two, that no one had answered him.

"Why did I see the cops leaving? What happened?" Steve asked looking at all of us.

The silence was deafening. No one had wanted to say anything. If we confirmed what the cops were saying, it would mean that Ponyboy and Johnny were killers.

"Something happened with Ponyboy and Johnny last night." Soda started.

"Did the punk miss curfew again?" Steve was always a smartass when it came to Ponyboy. I knew that Steve never liked Pony.

"That punk killed someone last night," I said outraged.

"What?!" Steve gasped. It had come to a shock just as it had with us. We always thought Dallas would be the one to kill someone.

"The cops said that Johnny killed Bob Sheldon after an altercation at the park," Darry explained. Soda and I kept our heads down, not wanting to see Steve's expression.

"That can't be true! There is no way that Johnny could kill someone." Steve rationalized.

"Well, you better believe it!" Soda was angry at this point, "My brother and his best friend are murderers!" He stood up from the couch and started pacing. "What were they thinking? How could they have let this happen?" Soda was rambling.

I walked over to him and tried to stop him, "Soda we don't know what happened. We need to get the full story before we panic, okay?"

"First we need to find them, okay?" It was Darry who spoke. He was pale, his eyes wide, and his hands were shaking.

"You guys need to go to work. You can't miss, we can't afford it." I reasoned.

"I'll call in," Darry started. He must have known that I was going to argue because he added, "I'm not going in to work with Ponyboy missing. You and I can go look for him while Soda and Steve go to work."

Soda started to protest, "Darry I want to go out and look too."

"No Soda, we can't afford both of us calling in sick. Now both of you get ready for work." Darry walked over to the phone and dialed his work. Steve was trying to convince Soda to get ready. I went to the kitchen and waited for Darry to get off the phone.

I waited until he hung the phone back on the wall before speaking. "Where are we going to look?"

"I figured we would canvas our neighborhood for starters," Darry said.

"I think we should split up."

"I don't think so. I already have one sibling missing. I don't need another one." Darry was stern.

"We can cover twice as much ground if we split up. You can check the Shepard territory. I'll check around here." I tried to convince him.

"I don't know Nina. I don't like the feeling of splitting up."

"I can go find Two-Bit and make him come with me." I pleaded.

He seemed to think about it for a moment before nodding. "I guess that will be okay. Go with Soda and Steve to the DX. See if Two-Bit is hanging around there."

I nodded, "Thanks Darry," I paused before continuing. He suddenly looked much older than his age. "It'll be okay Darry. We'll find him."

"I know. I am worried about what the Socs will do when they find out."

"Do you think they will retaliate?" I knew the answer before he gave it. Of course, they would. They would like nothing better to have an excuse to come after us. I couldn't understand why they live to torment us.

"I'm sure they will. That's why I want you to be careful this afternoon. The Socs will be looking for a reason to get back at us; especially one of us." Darry grabbed my shoulders and looked me in the eye.

"I promise I will be careful."

Our conversation cut short after Soda came down the hallway dressed in his uniform. We all headed towards the front door and out onto the porch. Darry went towards his truck while we piled into Steve's car. I climbed into the back seat while Steve started the car.

"I just can't believe it," Steve muttered driving.

"I can't either. I knew that I should've followed him." Soda said.

"What do you mean that you should have followed him?" Steve asked.

"Pony came home late last night. He fell asleep in the lot and missed curfew. Darry was pretty upset when Pony came home. They got into it, and Pony ran." Soda was trying to be vague. I knew that he didn't want to tell Steve that Darry hit me.

"Why did he run? That doesn't seem like Pony. The fight must have been bad. Does this have anything to do with the bruise on your face?" Steve looked in the mirror at me.

Soda turned around to look at me. I knew that he wanted to tell Steve the truth but was waiting for me to give him permission. Soda tells Steve everything; there's a reason that they were best friends. I nodded my head and looked out the window.

"The fight between Darry and Pony was awful. I've never seen them fight like that before. Athena was trying to diffuse the situation and Darry hit her. He was going for Pony but she got in the way. Pony took off after that."

Steve didn't say anything for the longest time. He seemed to be mulling over what was said. "He actually hit you?"

"It wasn't his fault. I saw that the argument was going to go sour and tried to intervene. It was an accident." I said.

"Can't bee too much of an accident if he was going to hit Pony. I can't believe how calm you are about this." It was common knowledge of what Steve thought about family hitting family. It was no surprise when he confessed his dad smacked him around sometimes.

"He shouldn't have tried to hit Pony and I shouldn't have gotten in the way. There's not much we can do about it now. What's done is done."

"Today sucks" was the only thing Steve said after that.

We made it to the DX and got out of the car. The gas station was deserted but I knew that it was only a matter of time before it was busy. Kids on their way to school will stop to buy drinks and snacks before school. I looked around hoping that I would find Two-Bit hanging around. He wasn't anywhere to be seen so I walked inside the station. Soda and Steve were opening up the shop and I decided to look around. I caught my reflection in a mirror and flinched. The hat was helping to hid the bruise a little bit but it was still noticeable. Deciding that I should throw on a pair of sunglasses I walked towards the counter looking for Steve.

"Hey Steve! Do you have your sunglasses on you?" I called.

"Yeah they are in my car." He responded somewhere from the back of the shop.

I walked out the door and towards Steve's car. I opened the front seat and started looking. I was able to find them in the center console and pulled them on. I didn't notice that someone was walking towards me until someone poked something against my back and said, "Don't move or I'll shoot." My heart started racing and I was about to scream when the person behind me started laughing.

I whipped around and shouted, "God Dammit Two-Bit!" I screamed. "You about gave me a heart attack. What the hell is wrong with you?"

In between laughter Two-Bit said, "I'm sorry but you should have seen the look on your face."

I punched him in the arm hard, "You're an asshole."

He grabbed his arm in pain, "Damn, I always forget how hard you can hit. Hey what's with the hat and glasses? Trying to be James Bond?"

"No, it's just sunny out." I knew that it was a bad excuse as soon as it left my mouth. The sun was hidden behind some clouds.

"Looks like you're trying to hide something." He grabbed the hat off my head and slipped my sunglasses off. "What the hell happened to you?!"

"I fell?" I laughed.

"You don't get that kind of bruise from a fall. Who the hell did that to you?" Two-Bit wasn't very quiet and soon enough Soda and Steve came outside.

"Hey Two-Bit!" Steve called.

Two-Bit didn't even glance at Steve. His eyes were fixed one me. "Answer the question Athena."

I knew that it would be pointless to try and lie again. "It was Darry." I mumbled, "but it was an accident."

"What happened?" He asked again.

"Darry and Pony got into it last night and I tried to calm them down. I ended up getting in the way and was hit."

He grabbed my chin and tilted my head from side to side, "You better not show that to Dally. He's going to be pissed."

"I don't know why, it's not a big deal."

"It is a big deal. You know how protective he is of you. You're like his sister. He's not going to take it well." Two-Bit said.

"Who's not going to take it well?" A voice from behind me said. I knew the voice and decided not to turn around, "Did you guys hear about the dead Soc?" It was Dally, this was absolutely the worst time for him to show up.

"What dead Soc?" Two-Bit asked.

"They found the body at the park down the street. Happened sometime last night and now the place is swarming with cops." Dally replied.

I knew that it was only a matter of time before the word got out that Bob was dead and who killed him. I looked back towards Soda and he nodded. "There's something that Soda and I need to tell you guys" I started. I turned around and looked at Dally, "We should go inside. This isn't a conversation I want to have out in the open." I started walking towards the shop before I finished my sentence.

"Hold on for one damn second Curtis," I heard Dally call from behind me. I stopped but didn't turn towards him. "Turn around." Dally's voice was like ice. I sucked in a breath before turning around to face him. "Who the fuck did that to your face?" he growled.

"It was an accident Dally, it's not a big deal." I tried to reason with him.

"That sure as hell doesn't look like an accident. Who hit you?" He was looking me right in the eye and I knew that I was going to have to tell him the truth. I couldn't lie to the guys any better than I could lie to my parents. All they had to do was look me dead in the eye and there was no way I could lie. I had a horrible poker face.

"Come inside and I'll tell you." I saw a car drive by full of Socs and they were yelling something out the window. I didn't want to think about what they were saying. I walked back into the store and heard the guys follow me. We walked towards the back of the store heading to the place where Soda and I had talked yesterday.

Once everyone was settled Dally growled, "Start talking Curtis." Soda and I exchanged looks wondering where to start. Soda looked at me and I knew he was asking me if I wanted to be the one explained or should he. I shook my head slightly and he gave me a sad look. "I ain't got all day."

"Fine," I started "Last night Ponyboy came home way past curfew and Darry was furious. He said that he and Johnny had fallen asleep in the lot after the movies. Darry and Pony got into it and before I knew it they were screaming at each other. I tried to break it up and stepped between them. Unfortunately for me it was the same time that Darry raised his arm to hit Pony. I got in the way and took the hit. Pony freaked out and ran out of the house." I paused for a moment trying to gauge their reactions. Soda just looked sad whereas Two-Bit and Dally were seething.

"Darry hit you?!" Dally said.

"It was an accident." I mumbled in reply.

"That's not a damn accident Athena. He shouldn't be raising his hand to any of you." Steve said.

"That's not the whole story either. Apparently Pony ran back to the lot and found Johnny. Next thing we know is there were two cops at our front door this morning." Soda explained.

"Why were the cops there?" Two-Bit asked.

"Johnny and Pony got jumped last night. The cops said that Johnny pulled a blade and killed a Soc."

It was silent for a while. I could see the news sink in with Dally and Two-Bit. Dally just cursed and pulled out a cigarette. Two-Bit paled and spoke, "The kids killed someone?"

"As far as we know, yes. Pony never came home last night and we decided that we were going to go out looking for them. Darry is checking the Shepherd's side of town while I was going to canvas over here. We thought you guys should know." I answered.

"Hell yeah we should know about this. I can't believe they killed someone. This isn't going to go over well with the Socs. They are going to want revenge for this. Who was it?"

"It was Bob Sheldon." Two-Bit wouldn't meet my eyes. I tried to get him to look at me but he refused. "What is it Two-Bit?"

"We were hanging out with their girls last night." He answered.

"What do you mean you were hanging out with their girls?" It was Soda.

"We were at the movies and they were sitting in front of us. When I got there, Pony and Johnny were sitting with them. They said that Dal was bothering them and that they were there to protect them." It doesn't surprise me that Dally was bothering them. He seemed to get a kick out of making girls feel uncomfortable. "We were going to walk them home when their boyfriends showed up in their car. They had been drinking and looking for a fight. The girls ended up going with them and we walked back to our side of town. I thought the kids were going to go straight home."

This made everything worse. If Bob thought, they were poaching his girl it made sense that he went after them. That was why Bob was in the park last night. Soda and I looked at each other. I could see the distressed look on his face. I walked over to him and wrapped an arm around his waist. His arms circled around me and pulled me to his chest. I let out a shaky breath and closed my eyes. I couldn't believe what was happening.

"If the word gets out that it was Johnny and Pony we need to be careful. They are going to come looking for trouble," Steve started. He looked at Soda and I, "especially you two. You guys can't be out walking alone."

"You think they would go after me?" I asked. It was unusual for Socs to come after Greaser girls but not unheard of. I have never run into any trouble more than being catcalled and harassed on the street.

"I wouldn't put it past them to try something." Dally said.

"Okay well Steve and Soda are usually always together so that means I get you two. Who wants to come with me to find Pony?" I looked at Two-Bit and Dally.

"I'll go." Two-Bit and Dally said together. I just nodded and walked out from Soda's embrace.

"Looks like I'll have plenty of protection." I looked back at Soda. "I'll bring him home Soda."

"I know you will." He replied. He walked towards me and kissed my forehead. "You guys better keep her safe." He directed his question to Two-Bit and Dally.

"Don't worry Soda, we will take care of her." Two-Bit slung his arm over my shoulder. We started walking back towards the store and outside.

We headed onto the street after saying goodbye. I had no idea where to even start looking but I figured we could look at the normal places where Pony liked to hang out. We decided on going to the library first which was over by the school.

"Do you think they are even still in town?" Two-Bit asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked looking at him.

"Well think about it, if you just killed someone would you still be hanging around?"

"No, "I started, "but Pony is still a kid. I'm hoping that he is just hiding out somewhere and waiting for things to calm down."

"That sounds stupid even when you say it," Dally started "Besides, Johnny is with him. They know the score. They are probably long gone."

"I just really hope that you're wrong Dally." I muttered.

The three of us continued walking towards the library in silence. School had already started and the streets were deserted. I knew that there will be some kids ditching class but we didn't run into anyone. Dally and Two-Bit decided to stay outside while I checked the library. I went inside and started looking around. There were some people inside checking out books but mostly it was empty. I walked towards the shelves of the fiction where I knew Pony liked to hang out. I ran up and down the rows but I couldn't see him or Johnny. I sighed and made my way back outside.

When I stepped outside I noticed that we were no longer alone on the streets. Two-Bit and Dally were in an argument with some kids. When I got closer, I noticed that it was Randy and some of his friends. I could hear their conversation as I stepped beside Dally.

"What the fuck did you just say?!" Dally roared.

"I said that I hope your buddies get the death penalty for this." One of them sneered.

I looked at Randy who was pale and his eyes were rimmed in red. It looked like he had been crying for a while. I knew that he was probably with Bob last night. I needed answers and I needed them right now. I walked into the circle, "What the hell did you guys do?"

Randy noticed me and retorted, "What did we do? Your brother killed my best friend."

"Now I know that's a lie. There was a reason why you were in that park last night and I know it wasn't because you were out for a stroll. So tell me the truth, what did you do?" I stepped closer to Randy.

"Nothing, we were out looking for some fun and your brother and his friend attacked us." I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"That's bullshit and you know it." Two-Bit shouted at him. "Was it because you were jealous that we picked up your girls last night?"

"Cherry and Marcia were just being nice. They know better than to hang around with trash." Randy replied.

I grabbed the front of Randy's shirt and pulled him close, "Call my brother trash again and you will regret it."

"You greasers are all the same. You need to learn your place. Hopefully your brother learned his lesson after the beating we gave him." One guy laughed.

"What?" I saw red. "What did you do to them?"

"We beat the dark kid while Bob gave your brother a bath in the fountain."

Dally lost it and lunged at them; Two-Bit wasn't far behind. They had tried to drown my brother. They tried to drown him while they beat Johnny up. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Johnny must have pulled a blade and stabbed Bob when he was drowning my brother.

"Your brother killed my best friend." Randy told me.

"No you got your friend killed. What the hell were you thinking? Pony is fourteen; he's just a kid. You decided to get even with them because what; they were talking to your girls? Are you that insecure that you felt threatened by a couple of kids?" I really wanted to know what was running through their heads.

"Look we were drunk and weren't thinking clearly. That doesn't give them the right to kill someone." Randy tried to argue.

"You were drowning my kid brother. You could have killed him. Johnny was only trying to save him. He acted in self-defense!"

"We weren't going to kill him. We just wanted to teach them a lesson. It was the dark skinned kid who brought out the blade."

"His name is Johnny!" I screamed at him. Everything around us stopped and I was breathing heavy. Two-Bit and Dally were standing back by my side. "Their names are Johnny and Ponyboy and you just signed their death warrant. You know how cops handle greasers, they will just lock them up and throw away the key. They are just kids; they didn't deserve this."

"Well Bob didn't deserve to die." Randy replied.

"The only one you have to blame is yourselves. You started a war when you attacked them in the park last night. People are going to be out for blood after this." I tried to reason with Randy.

"Well you better watch your back greaser." After that Randy and his friends took off.

I looked at Dally and Two-Bit and they looked a little worse for wear. I couldn't think of anything to say to them. I just started walking off towards the DX.

"Athena, where are you going?" I heard Two-Bit trying to catch up with me.

"I need to tell Soda what happened. They need to know what actually went on at the park." I said.

"You sure that's a good idea?" It was Dally.

"Of course it's a good idea. Why wouldn't I tell them what happened?" I was incredulous.

"Like you said, this is going to start a war. When the North side finds out what happened, they are going to want blood. You don't like fighting." Two-Bit reasoned.

"Well that was before they went after my family." I continued walking at a brisk pace.

"Who knew that this is what it took to bring out your violent side. I'm starting to like this side of you Athena Curtis." Dally laughed.

"Bob knew what happened the last time he went after my family." I muttered.

"What are you talking about?" Two-Bit asked.

"After he jumped Johnny I talked to him. Well less talking and more smashing my fist into his fist. I warned him what would happen if he went after my family again."

"Damn kid, didn't think you had it in you." Dally slapped me on the back.

I could see the DX station in the distance. I was about to cross the street when a car pulled in front of me. It wasn't just any car; it was a cop car. An officer stepped out and over to us. It was the same officer from this morning.

"What can I do for you Officer Daniels?" Dally asked.

"We need you to come down to the station and answer some questions. You know the drill Winston." He replied.

Dally nodded and walked towards the car. He got in the back seat and looked at me. "Let your brothers know what's going on." Then the door closed and they drove off.

I could see Soda was standing outside and watching what was going on. I walked towards him at a run. I knew he won't like what I have to say. I ran into his arms and gripped him tight. Everything just got a whole lot worse.

 **Hey all, I know I haven't updated in forever but I hope you all like this new chapter! Please read and review, I'm dying to know what you think!**


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